Sunday, Sept. 13, 1998
JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION EDITORIAL
Clinton must find the courage to resign
This joint editorial reflects the conclusions of the editorial boards of both
The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, acting separately and
independently.
The American people seem doomed to a guided tour of hell in
days to come, exposed against their wishes to the details of a
particularly seamy presidential scandal.
Only one person can spare us that nightmare. By resigning,
President Clinton would be surrendering the office he worked his
entire life to achieve, and would give his enemies the reward they
have long sought. No one as proud and stubborn as the president
could take such a step easily.
Yet, by making that sacrifice, Clinton would save the nation from a
protracted trauma that will otherwise cripple the presidency and
Congress and further discredit a political system already held in
low esteem. A president more concerned with the national interest
than his own self-preservation would realize that resignation is his
only responsible option.
Sadly, Bill Clinton has shown himself incapable of such sacrifice.
He is a complex man with many attractive qualities, but in the end
his character has been defined by his crass selfishness. It is that
trait--perjury and adultery are merely its symptoms--that has
rendered him unfit to continue as president.
At repeated points in the progression of this scandal, Clinton has
faced a critical choice: "Should I do what is best for the country,
or should I do what is best for me?" If at any of those points,
Clinton had chosen to do what was best for the country, we would
not be in this mess. But he could not.
Look how it began: In late 1995, the Paula Jones
sexual-harassment case was already hanging over Clinton's head,
and his political opponents had made it clear that they thirsted for
his blood. Yet, despite the danger to his presidency, Clinton
decided to begin a sexual relationship with a 21-year-old intern
named Monica Lewinsky.
That reckless decision--to gamble his presidency on the ability of a
starry-eyed young woman to keep her silence--has been
described as terrible judgment, and it is. But even more troubling,
it demonstrates that Clinton valued his own gratification too highly
and took his duty as president too lightly.
That choice between his duty as president and his own self-interest
presented itself again when Clinton was asked, in a sworn
deposition in the Jones case, whether he had sexual relations with
Lewinsky. As a father and husband, his natural instinct was to
deny the charge and commit perjury. According to the polls, most
Americans do not judge Clinton harshly for that decision. They
accept his explanation that he was trying to protect himself and his
family.
However, the act of committing perjury has consequences for the
president of the United States that do not apply when the crime is
committed by most husbands and fathers. The president takes an
oath before the entire nation to uphold the law; by committing a
felony, he violates that solemn oath.
Because of the nature of his perjury, Clinton's decision to lie will
not by itself generate the public anger necessary for impeachment.
It is nonetheless important, because it satisfies the constitutional
requirement that impeachment involve "high crimes and
misdemeanors." At some later date, it and other charges could
provide the technical foundation for impeachment motivated by
other, less legal considerations.
Clinton's most cowardly and indefensible refusal to put the national
interest ahead of his own well-being involves his protracted
attempt to conceal his perjury and infidelity. Over the past several
months, he has enlisted the full force and majesty of his office in
defense of his deception, and in the process damaged the
presidency both as an institution and as a national symbol.
For example, his forceful and falsely sincere denial of an affair with
"that woman, Miss Lewinsky" put his Cabinet members in a tough
position. They had to either publicly proclaim their confidence in
the president, or resign. He forced them to put their personal and
professional credibility on the line in defense of what he knew to
be a lie.
Likewise, because Clinton refused to tell the truth, Secret Service
agents were compelled to testify before a grand jury,
compromising what had been assumed to be a confidential
relationship between a president and the agents assigned to
protect him. And when White House aides were summoned to
testify about what they knew, government lawyers fought the
subpoenas on a claim of executive privilege. The courts overruled
that claim, a decision that will haunt future presidents who want to
consult honestly with staff on legally delicate matters.
When he first looked the American people in the eye and denied
his infidelity, Clinton might not have envisioned the full impact of
his deception on other people. But as the consequences became
clear, and as he saw the toll his deception was taking on members
of his staff and Cabinet, he had the obligation to intervene, to halt
the weakening of the presidency by the simple act of telling the
truth.
But to save his own hide, he remained silent.
Finally, on Aug. 17, unable any longer to maintain fiction as fact,
Clinton faced the nation. Here was his last chance to put the
interests of the nation above his own. By coming clean, by laying
the truth on the table for all to see, Clinton had the opportunity to
move the scandal to a quick resolution. And again, he failed. Even
then, he could not see beyond his own narrow needs; he could not
summon the courage to do what was right for the nation.
With the filing of the Starr report, the process toward
impeachment will accelerate. Until the contents of that report are
clear and President Clinton has had a chance to respond, final
judgment on impeachment would be premature. The forced
removal of a president through constitutional means is a grave
matter that should not be handled hastily.
The case for resignation, on the other hand, is already clear. At the
moment, Clinton's selfishness still serves as a blindfold, rendering
him unable to see the seriousness of his situation. But just as time
eventually forced him to admit both his lies and his infidelity, it may
eventually force him to consider resignation.
Congressional Democrats are already abandoning the nominal
head of their party. At some point in the next few weeks, they may
go to him and ask him to remove his blindfold and look honestly at
the ugly spectacle that he has wrought.
And maybe then he will find the courage to do what is best for his
country.
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